How Kingsman: The Golden Circle Sets Up Kingsman 3

In 2014, Kingsman: The Secret Service created an audacious new movie universe of utterly dignified British super spies. In his sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, director Matthew Vaughn literally blows up his creation to establish a new paradigm. The first Kingsman introduced audiences to Eggsy Unwin (Taron Egerton), a London chav recruited by gentleman spy Harry Hart (Colin Firth) to join Kingsman, an independent secret service dedicated to protecting the world. By foiling the scheme of evil billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) to cull the human race, Eggsy established himself as a proud agent of Kingsman, though the mission cost the life of Harry.

The Golden Circle upends the norms of Kingsman completely. The new film’s villain, Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore), preemptively strikes at Kingsman before they could learn of her plan for her global drug-dealing organization, the Golden Circle, to infect millions of people with a virus so she can control the legalized distribution of narcotics (and the antidote to the virus) worldwide. Thanks to the help of Charlie (Edward Holcroft), a rejected former Kingman trainee out for vengeance, Poppy launches a missile attack at Kingsman, destroying all of their facilities and murdering all their agents – except for Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong), Kingsman’s brilliant tech support.

Soon, the remaining Kingsman find the Americans have an equivalent secret spy agency, Statesman, based in Kentucky, which was founded at the same time as Kingsman. Eggsy and Merlin also are shocked to find Harry is alive; he was resurrected by Statesman’s technology, though the ordeal left him with amnesia. With Harry on the mend, and with the aid of Statesman’s resources and fellow agents Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry), the agents of Kingsman fight their way to Poppy’s secret headquarters in Cambodia to stop her. When it’s all said and done, The Golden Circle has reset the chessboard yet again, laying out all the pieces for a third Kingsman movie.

Here’s how Kingsman 2 set up Kingsman 3, and possible spin offs, in the quickly expanding Kingsman universe:

The New Kingsman

By the conclusion of The Golden Circle, Kingsman is under new ownership. Polly’s missile attack wiped out all of Kingsman’s headquarters, resources, and most of its agents. After successfully working together to destroy Polly’s organization, Statesman’s head honcho Champagne (Jeff Bridges) announced that Kingsman is now a part of Statesman. Kingsman’s resources were formerly derived from its founder’s tailoring business; Statesman’s founder entered the far more profitable liquor business. To finance Kingsman, Statesman purchased a distillery in Scotland, joining the two agencies in the liquor trade as “brothers.”

For Kingsman, this meant resuming the cover of having the agency fronted by a high-end haberdashery, but also dealing in exclusive Kingsman Scotch. Kingsman is now in the process of rebuilding, which means Eggsy and Harry will be on the lookout for new recruits to shore up the ranks, which may bring the series full circle to Eggsy now being the established veteran spy training newbies in the fine art of gentlemanly world-saving, while Harry may move into the Arthur role as Kingsman’s top man.

Tequila in London

One of Kingsman’s new recruits – or at least an agent on loan from America – looks to be Tequila (Channing Tatum). Tequila is a top Statesman operative who was the first to encounter Eggsy and Merlin when they arrived in Kentucky. Tequila, Eggsy and Merlin didn’t trust each other or get along at first, but after Tequila fell ill to Polly’s blue rash virus and was placed in cryo to save his life, Eggsy, Harry discovered Statesman’s other top man, Whiskey, was actually a rogue agent working for his own interests. After he’s revived from cryo and given the antidote Eggsy and Harry recovered from Polly, Tequila became a full supporter of Kingsman and suggested one of them take a spot in Statesman as the new Whiskey.

One of the last shots of The Golden Circle shows Tequila arriving at the new Kingsman tailor shop by cab, having traded in his Stetson hat, Wrangler denim, and cowboy boots for a posh suit and bowler hat, an American cowpoke in London sure to ruffle some feathers in Kingsman 3 with his rough-hewed Yankee charms.